A significant reduction in the caloric content of foods can be accomplished by removing the main source of the calories, which may be sugar, starch, or fat. However, when the calorie source is removed, it must be replaced with something that restores the food to its original appearance, texture, taste, consistency, and subjective feel in the mouth. In the case of sugar and starch, such a replacement material is frequently called a bulking agent.
For sugar replacement, the bulking agent should resemble sugar as closely as possible; it should be white, water-soluble, and solid; have a low caloric content, be odorless and either tasteless or sweet, and have no physiological effects. A lack of sweetness can be remedied with an appropriate amount of an artificial, calorie-free sweetener.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,766,165 and 3,876,794 disclose bulking agents made from monosaccharides such as glucose and maltose (reducing sugars) by heating them in the presence of edible polycarboxylic acid catalysts to form soluble or insoluble polyglucoses and polymaltoses having average molecular weights in the range of 1500 to 36,000. Melt-polymerization processes are used, and the use of alkali or alkaline earth carbonates to neutralize excess acidity in the products is disclosed.
European patent application EP 0 404 227 A2, published Jun. 13, 1990, describes a low-calorie bulking agent that is made by reacting together a monosaccharide such as glucose or maltose, a polyol such as glycerol or sorbitol, and a polycarboxylic acid that also acts as a catalyst, at elevated temperatures and pressures. The saccharides disclosed are reducing sugars. The product is intended to be added to puddings, cakes and other foods.
It is known that poorly digestible, water-soluble solids of low molecular weight, such as sorbitol (182.2), xylitol (152.1), and mannitol (182.2) give rise to osmotic diarrhea (the latter being known as a laxative), for instance from Lineback and Inglett, Food Carbohydrates, AVI Publishing, Westport CT., (1982) pg. 51, and that the effect is dependent on the molecular weight of the non digested quantity of the material. Thus, the bulking agent should also be polymeric.
There is a need for water-soluble polymers, made from inexpensive starting materials, which meet the above criteria. In addition to being replacements for sugar in foods, they may also find applications more traditionally associated with water-soluble polymers such as thickening agents, encapsulants, etc.